Confessions of a Political Junkie

Whiffleball: Not just for kids anymore

I’m sure there are many of us that have memories of playing whiffleball with our friends as a youth. Perhaps you convened on someone’s front lawn or at a public park. Wherever it was, the memories of all of us who played this sport as a child are probably the same: the white, perforated ball dancing and floating in the air like Mohammed Ali, kids swinging the plastic yellow bat while pretending to be Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez or one of the other great sluggers of the day. While most of you reading this probably remember playing whiffleball, I’d be willing to wager that few of you have picked up a whiffle ball or bat in a great many years.

And neither had I, until about 15 months ago. I played a pickup game with some of my friends outside Conover Residence Hall. It sparked an interest in the game that had been long dormant. Shortly after, my friend and current whiffleball team partner, The Rider News’ own “Hollywood” Nick Schaefer, discovered people actually held whiffleball tournaments with prize money. I was elated. Furthermore, we discovered that there were national rankings for whiffleball teams and there was even a national championship. I couldn’t believe it.

I initially thought these tournaments were a bunch of kids tossing around a whiffleball slowly and we would mop up and take copious amounts of money. We got there and found out that was not the case. People were throwing the whiffleball upwards of 60 miles an hour and other people who weren’t throwing that fast were making the plastic white ball move around in ways I never thought possible. Most of the teams were solid hitters, what we call “professional hitters” in whiffleball lexicon, and would pound any poorly thrown ball. Needless to say, we were shocked and, though we did win two games, our run in the tournament was short.

Our team, the Salt Dogs, has played in two tournaments since, and we are slowly and surely making a name for ourselves in the whiffle world. The tournaments we play in are highly competitive, and the sense of camaraderie is superb. Sometimes you see the same people from tournament to tournament and you get to talk about the trade, how to throw a certain pitch, giving another team a scouting report on a team you just faced and so on. There is a definite sense of community within the sport.

For those of you who still yearn to play the game, who are not fortunate enough to be involved in college athletics or are looking for a competitive sport where all the games are hard fought, I invite you to check out the sport of professional whiffleball. If you are interested, I will direct you to two great websites—wiffleballusa.com and wiffleball.net—for more info. I hope to see you on the field.